


don't wake me, i'm not dreaming.

by commonemergency



Series: ficmas 2017. [19]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Met through a mutual friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 08:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commonemergency/pseuds/commonemergency
Summary: but their love story is spread across a hundred different universes with a million different beginnings and endings.





	don't wake me, i'm not dreaming.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this as a part two, but _can_ be read separately from [i've got the strangest feeling (this isn't our first time around)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13035792) because people seemed to like it, and i needed to write another story tonight to catch up and wasn't feeling another prompt other than this. so enjoy.

In this universe they meet through a mutual friend at a party. To be more specific, a party in Manchester. The apartment is small and the music is loud and people are already passed out on couches and rooms that they’re not sure who they belong to but they’re something soft to sleep on. Dan’s new to Manchester University, only gone out to buy food at Tesco with his flatmates that he has yet to see if he gets along with or not. Half of the people here starting to drink around seven because they could and no one was telling them they couldn’t, that was the problem with freedom.

Social interaction wasn’t his best trait, in fact the last couple of people that he had talked to had made excuses saying that they needed another drink when really they just needed to get the hell away from Dan who couldn’t offer up much other than the fact that he was studying Law and yes, he knew how hard it was, but it was _something_ , and it made his mum and dad happy. He takes another swig of the beer grimacing at the taste because it’s cheap but he knows that if he gets his hands on the vodka then it’s game over, he can say goodbye to the perfect attendance that he was (surprisingly) going strong on the past two weeks.

When he sees Phil walk through the door he smiles to himself. He had been waiting for him. It was always a curious thing how they’d met again in this universe, Dan didn’t know much about him other than the fact that they had (one) mutual friend, which was funny in the way where all the lies that Dan told that this was the one that had come true. He took another drink of the beer, he wasn’t going to make a move yet, nothing ever went according to plan, but Dan had loved him in every universe, in every way, and the way that they worked was magnetic, and he didn’t understand it but he never questioned it, that seemed to be the rule for most things. 

Dan is feeling a little light and that’s a good enough reason for him to go up there and introduce himself and say hello to their mutual friend Matt. He walks passed the group of people who are either bumping into him because of their dancing or bumping into him because their lack of coordination or a little bit of both. It was the kind of environment that he’s not exactly a fan of but he can’t really complain, he was getting that sweet university experience that he never really wanted to have in the first place, but the drinks were free and he got to see Phil. 

They’re talking about the movies, Phil liked Paranormal Activity even though he knows that they’re kind of bad but _in like a really good way_ , but he honestly goes because of the popcorn and the pick n mix which may not be a good enough excuse but he doesn’t really care. Dan stumbles into the conversation nodding along to what Phil’s saying while waving at Matt who’s standing next to him. Dan doesn’t know much about their mutual friend, he just knows that he’s friendly and they have the same class.

“Phil, this is my friend Dan, we’re taking Intro to Ethics together,” He points towards Dan who’s still holding on to his cup for dear life because right now it’s his security blanket. It was nice to know in many universes that there were still some things that stayed the same and this was one of them. Dan takes another sip of the drink and reaches his hand out to shake hands with Phil because he doesn’t understand the party etiquette but you can never go wrong with a handshake. 

“Hi, Dan.” Phil says, licking his lips and eyeing his drink. “Where did you get that?” He nods towards the red cup. 

_This is where it starts_ , Dan thinks. 

“I can show you.” He doesn’t reach his hand out for Phil to take, in the universe where they’ve been dating since Year 12 he would have, because he was brave then, and he was brave now, but Phil didn’t know him like that but Dan did. 

Phil follows very close behind him but there’s still a reasonable gap between the two. 

“Here we are.” Dan grabs him a cup from the stack that’s getting sufficiently smaller and smaller the more people come in through that door. “We have jungle juice, cheap beer, and some shitty smirnoff vodka to mix in with god knows what he has in the fridge.” 

Dan had been here a while to know. 

“Don’t really trust the jungle juice, I guess I’ll take the beer,” Phil laughs looking up at Dan and his heart does that _flippy over thing._

Dan pours him the beer and hands it to him and watches him take his first drink, and he grimaces like he thought he would.

“So are you studying at Manchester, too? I haven’t seen you around…. Not that I go out and really like, see people.” Dan reiterates, wanting to smack himself in the face. 

Some things don’t change, Phil still makes him stutter through his words. 

“No, I’m looking for a job right now actually. I just film videos.” 

Dan smiles again. 

“What kind of videos?” Except -- Dan knows this. Because Dan knows everything about Phil, even the things that don’t quite make sense he still knows. 

“Uh, well, they’re on YouTube. It’s kind of… a variety of stuff, I guess.” He rubs the back of his neck, which he does when he’s nervous and Dan finds it endearing. 

“That’s cool. You’ll have to show me sometime.”

“Maybe. They’re pretty bad. It might scare you off.” Phil says and Dan can see a hint of a blush as he takes another drink. 

“Yeah? Maybe so. Guess we’ll never know unless you show me.” Dan wants to say that in the very best of universes that’s how they meet. It’s their origin, their love story, but their love story is spread across a hundred different universes with a million different beginnings and endings. 

They hit off like Dan thinks they will, and they’re laughing about that one YouTube video everyone has seen, and Dan tells Phil he thought about putting up a video once. Phil says that he should, he might like it. It’s always a fun game for Dan to try and get as close as he can to their beginning; wherever that beginning started- he doesn’t know. 

It’s half past one and Dan and Phil hadn’t drank much other than water and cokes they found in the fridge, and Phil really should have gone home earlier but he was having too much fun and Dan would have been sitting in his room playing video games anyway if he didn’t come so he doesn’t mind. Phil decides to walk Dan back to his dorm building that’s not too far away but far enough. They walk pass the Manchester Wheel and it’s nice for Dan to see it still up and alive in this universe. 

“I love the Manchester Wheel,” Phil looks up at it in all its glory and Dan wants to tell him get as much of it as he can because it won’t be there in a couple of years. 

“Me too.” Dan says back; they love it for different reasons but that’s okay. 

When they reach Dan’s dorm building they look at each other for a very long time, Phil says he wants to get together sometime soon, that way he can show him his videos and maybe persuade Dan to post his. 

“It feels like we’ve known each other for a very long time.” Phil says, reaching out to brush Dan’s hair out of the way, and Phil looks puzzled, like he doesn’t really know why he did it and he apologizes but Dan doesn’t mind -- it’s nothing new to him. 

“I feel the same way.” Dan smiles, grabbing his keys to go inside after they say goodbye.

This wasn’t their first or last time around.

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos appreciated!
> 
> talk to me on tumblr/twitter: **@nihilismdan**


End file.
